At the time of driving the vehicle backward, it is known to capture an image of a rear side state of the vehicle through an onboard camera and to display the captured image on a monitor device of a vehicle navigation system. Since the onboard camera is placed at the outside of the vehicle, for instance, dirt will likely adhere to a lens of the onboard camera. When the dirt adheres to the lens of the onboard camera, it is difficult to capture and see a clear image of the rear side state of the vehicle through the onboard camera.
In order to address the above disadvantage, for instance, JPH11-255018A teaches an onboard camera washer apparatus that includes a nozzle and a pump. The nozzle sprays washer fluid over the lens of the onboard camera to wash the deposit adhered thereto, and the pump feeds the washer fluid to the nozzle. In this onboard camera washer apparatus, an electric motor is energized synchronously with a back alarm and a back lamp by supplying an electric current from an electric power source circuit of the back alarm or the back lamp to the electric motor at the time of driving the vehicle backward. In this way, the onboard camera is automatically washed at the time of driving the vehicle backward without requiring manipulation of a switch by a driver of the vehicle for executing the washing operation.
The above onboard camera washer apparatus includes the dedicated washer fluid tank and pump, which are dedicated for the washing of the onboard camera. It may be easy to have an accommodation space for accommodating, for example, the components of the above onboard camera washer apparatus in a case of large vehicles, such as a bus or truck. However, it is often difficult to have a sufficient accommodation space for the components of the above onboard camera washer apparatus in a case of a compact passenger vehicle.
Furthermore, the dedicated washer fluid tank and pump may result in an increase in the costs of the onboard camera washer apparatus.